What NBA players eat

Jamario Moon, the former Albany Patroons player who since has carved out a fine NBA career, is back in Albany for the first time in four years to work out with Derrick Rowland, a former Patroons coach and friend of Moon’s.

Moon was a fan favorite during his two years (2005-07) with the Patroons. His dunks seemed to defy physics. After being signed by the Toronto Raptors in 2008 at age 27, he competed in the NBA dunk contest, finishing third.

While playing for the Cavaliers, Clippers, Raptors and Heat over the past four seasons, Moon has enjoyed a lifestyle quite different from that of his Patroons days.

He’s made almost $7 million during his relatively brief NBA career, compared to the $1,000 a week he earned with the Patroons. While with the Patroons, he lived at the now-closed Ramada Inn of 9W. Let’s just say he wouldn’t have given the place a glowing review on TripAdvisor.

When it came to eating, Moon said he tried to be frugal in those days, ordering off the dollar menu at McDonald’s, stopping by Kenneth’s Tastebud for fried fish sandwiches and, usually, cooking for himself.

Moon’s culinary skills earned some ribbing from his teammates, but none complained about his signature dish, which they nicknamed, “The Moon-pie.”

What is a “Moon-pie”? I’ll let the creator explain:

You put a layer of crescent roll on the bottom of the pan. Just one layer. You put it in the oven and let it cook a little bit. Then you fry up some ground beef, chop it up real small, get some cheeses — I always like a four cheese — and I use always use Del Monte sauce. Get a four-cheese Del Monte sauce. Or you can just get traditional sauce.

Once the bottom crescent cooked a little bit, and you’ve fried up your meet and chopped it up, you put the meat on, pour in the sauce and put your four cheese on top. And now, I’ve started putting cans of corn in it. You spread the sauce and cheese out a little bit, and then you put the top of the crescent on there.

Let that brown a little bit. Once it browns, you can take it out and cut it up into little slices to serve.

Moon isn’t sure how many calories are in a “Moon-pie,” but he works out three times a day, so it probably doesn’t matter.